Oil burning heater for tobacco barns



Nov. 6, 1962 R. w. MCMICHAEL 3 3 l3 l6 3| [6 1 36 7 I5 FIG. 1 36 38 2|III' 34 I9 as lo 22 36 3| I3 33 u as -27 21 29 g 23 24 a i g 25 2 55 &

FIG. 4

INVENTOR.

Ransom W. M9 Michael BY z ATTORNEY United rates Patent 3,%Z,Z74 PatentedNov. 6, 1962 ice snsznm 01L BURNING HEATER FGR TOBAQCQ BARNS Ransom W.McMichael, Rte. 2, Summerfield, N.C. Filed Apr. 24, 1959, Ser. No.868,690 4 Claims. c1. 158-91) The present invention relates to liquidfuel burners and relates more particularly to improvements in liquidfuel or oil burners for use in conduits or ducts arranged in barns fordrying and curing tobacco and for other purposes.

Carbon deposits formed during combustion of liquid fuels, andparticularly kerosene and the heavier fuel oils, have a tendency toaccumulate about vital burner components which deposits will reduceburner operating efiiciency. These deposits predominantly occur aboutthe openings or ports through which the flame is propagated. The removalof these hard carbon or soot deposits is eX- tremely difficult and is avery time consuming process. Preliminary to removal of the hard carbondeposits on the burner components, the units must be disassembled andfrequently the entire curing system must be placed out of operationuntil the cleaning operation is completed.

This invention has for one of its objectives an oil burner for use incombination with a tobacco curing system in which the components may bereadily disassembled for easy cleaning and replacement Another objectiveof this invention is to provide a burner head member in which the portsor openings cooperate with the configuration of the oil-receivingchamber to form flame passageways and in which the cornbustion chamberis directly above the head member.

Still another objective of this invention is the provision of a burnerhead member and fuel-receiving chamber which may be readily disassembledand substitute burner heads of the desired configuration and contour maybe introduced into the chamber.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide an improved oilburner of the open type employed in ouring and drying tobacco which maybe readily replaced without disassembling the fuel-receiving chamber.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this novel liquidfuel burner will become more readily apparent to those skilled in thisart from the following detailed description taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawing in which like characters of reference refer tocorresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly in section, of burner and burnerhousing taken in plane normal to the axis of the burner housing;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of FIG. 1, reduced in size, withportions removed, to more fully illustrate the orientation of the burnercomponents;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken substantiallyalong the plane of section line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken substantiallyalong the plane of section line 4-4 of FIGS. 1 and 3 illustrating oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of modified construction of a burner head andbase embodying the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of FIG. 5 with a transverse sectionremoved substantially along the plane of section line 66 of FIG. 5.

Referring to the drawing and particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there isshown a terminal portion only of a duct network it) which extends at asuitable level above the ground in a tobacco barn for curing and dryingtobacco with only one burner position 11 being illustrated, how

ever, it will be readily recognized that a plurality of burner positionsare selectively located in the duct network depending upon the size .andconfiguration of the barn and the load requirements. In some instances,the duct network assumes a circuitous path within the barn and theburner positions may be located at intervals depending upon the heatrequirements. Adjacent to the terminal end of the duct 12 is the burnerhousing 13 which may be made of cast iron or for cooperatively engagingwith the sheet metal duct 12.

The burner housing 13 is supported above the ground level preferably bymeans of the plate and saddle 14 having the requisite curvature in thesaddle to retain the circular housing therein. At one terminal end ofthe burner housing and suitably fastened therein is a plate 15 in whichthere are a series of elongated slots 16 for exhausting any combustiongases in the event of any positive pressure exerted within the ductworkso as to prevent sudden flame propagation through the end of thecombustion housing 13.

-A collar 17 is integrally cast with the housing at the top thereof forcooperatively receiving the central leg 18 of the T-shaped air intakeduct 1i which is mounted and suitably fastened within the collar 17. TheT-shaped duct 19 is provided with the horizontal section 2% at the endsof which are mounted the elbow connections 21 to which free ends avertical leg 22 is supported reaching downwardly and terminating asuitable distance above the ground level to induce the flow of warm airinto the combustion chamber or housing 13. It will be readily apparentthat the T-shaped duct 19 constituting an assemblage may be readilyraised from the collar 17 to permit access into the combustion housing.

At the base of the housing 13 is a platform 23 through which apassageway 24 is drilled to receive the fuel oil line 25 which isthreadably connected to the supply inlet line 26 that leads to thesupply tank (not shown).

A cylindrical oil burner base member 27 is positioned on the platform 23and securely retained in position through the threaded connection 29with the line 25. The upper portion of the oil burner base is providedwith a frusto-conical oil receiving chamber 30 into which the liquidfuel from the supply line 25 may flow. The inverted frusto-conicalchamber 30 will have a depth depending upon the capacity of the burner.

A burner head member 31 is freely and cooperatively insertable andretained or mounted within the inverted frusto-conical oil burnerreceiving base 27. The head member 31 has a lower portion 32 having aconfiguration which will be cooperatively received within the chamber 30and is spaced a predetermined distance from the chamber walls by meansof the radially extending ribs 33 that are integrally cast with the headmember and are circumferentially spaced about the lower portionperiphery of the member 31. The upper portion 34 of the member 31 has aconical surface 35 and integrally cast therewith is a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced and radially extending vanes 36 which projectbeyond the vertical wall of the burner base 27. The vanes 36 divergedownwardly and intermediate the height of the head member convergedownwardly to form the ribs 33 at the lower portion of the head member.

When the head member 31 is introduced into the oil burner base chamber30 it is retained there with considerable stability to avoid tiltingwhen supporting a load thereabove in the form of the air intake stack orduct 38.

Duct 38 is in the form of a cylindrical sleeve which is positioned ormounted directly and in axial alignment on the head member 31 and incontact with the radially extending vanes 36. Air intake duct 38 extendsup- 3 wardly through the opening (not shown) in the top of the housing13 through the collar and into the T-shaped assemblage 19.

Fuel oil entering the supply line 25 will flow into the oil-receivingchamber 30 in the base 27 and upon ignition thereof air for combustionwill be supplied through the air intake duct 38 and the products ofcombustion will fiow through the duct network 10.

Removing carbon deposits in the burner assembly is facilitated byremoval of the T-shaped assemblage 19 making the burner componentsreadily accessible and by removal of the sleeve 38 and head member 31,the components may be readily cleaned by removing the carbon from theaccessible surfaces which do not have any small ports or openings.

A modified embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. and 6wherein the oil-receiving base 40 is provided with a cylindrical opening41 for the introduction of fuel oil into the inverted frusto-conicaloil-receiving chamber 42. However, the base 40 may be substantiallysimilar to the base 27 heretofore described for the preferredembodiment. The oil burner head member 45 that is supported freely inthe chamber has a lower portion 46 of frusto-conical configuration forcooperatively introducing into the chamber 42. A plurality of downwardlyextending recesses 47 is circumferentially spaced from each other aboutthe conical surface of the lower portion with each of the recessesextending downwardly into the oil-receiving chamber permitting oil to beintroduced eliminating the necessity for a wick. Obviously, the numberof recesses may be increased or decreased depending upon the burnerrequirements or capacity. The upper portion 48 of the member 45 has aconicallyshaped surface 49 which i interrupted circumferentially by thedownwardly diverging radially projecting vanes. The terminal ends 51 ofwhich extend outwardly beyond the perimeter of the base 40 so as tosupport and receive thereon an air intake duct similar to duct 38.

It will be readily apparent that assembling and disassembling the burnerassembly described herein is readily accomplished in view of thesimplicity of the components and their accessability, particularly sincethere are no binding or mechanical connections between the componentswhich will prevent the parting of one unit from its mating unit.

Many modifications and variations of this invention relating to a fueloil burning assembly are obviously contemplated without departing fromthe real purpose and spirit of this invention as well as the use ofmechanical equivalents which are to be employed.

What is claimed is:

1. An oil burner for uSe in tobacco curing systems within a ductworkcomprising an oil receiving base member having an open chamber and meansfor admitting a liquid fuel into the chamber, a head member having alower chamber cooperating plug and an upper stacksupporting portionhaving radially projecting means, said plug having radially projectingmeans for supporting the head member in the open chamber, and a stackmounted on the upper stack-supporting portion radially projecting means,said stack-supporting portion being conical and having downwardlydiverging radially projecting vanes, the terminal portions of said vanesreaching beyond the chamber.

2. An oil burner for use in tobacco curing systems as described in claim1, said stack-supporting portion vanes being integrally formed with thehead member.

3. A burner for use in tobacco curing systems comprising, incombination, a circular drurn having a closed end and an open end, saidclosed end having an arcuate 4 series of elongated slots adjacent thelower periphery of said drum, a vertical air intake duct locatedadjacent the closed end of said drum, said air intake duct having aportion thereof extending downwardly through the upper side of saiddrum, a raised interior surface portion located in said drum adjacentits closed end, a circular burner base fixedly attached on said raisedinterior surface portion, fuel feed means projecting through said raisedinterior surface portion of said drum and through said burner base, aburner head located immediately above said burner base and being ofsolid center construction and being provided with radiating vanes incontact with said downwardly extending portion of said air intake duct,said vanes extending beyond the burner head, whereby a combustion zoneis formed adjacent the closed end of said drum, a burner base ofcylindrical construction having an upward cavity of inverted frustumconfiguration, a burner head of solid center construction with upper andlower integral portions, said upper portion being of conicalconfiguration and said lower portion being of inverted frustumconfiguration, vanes radiating from said solid center construction ofsaid burner head and extending from the apex of said upper conicalportion to the lower base plane of said lower portion, whereby the outeredges of the lower extremities of said vanes are so shaped that theyconform to the upper cavity configuration of said burner base.

4. A burner for use in tobacco curing systems comprising, incombination, a circular drum having a closed end and an open end, saidclosed end having an arcuate series of elongated slots adjacent thelower periphery of said drum, a vertical air intake duct locatedadjacent the closed end of said drum, said air intake duct having aportion thereof extending downwardly through the upper side of saiddrum, a raised interior surface portion located in said drum adjacentits closed end, a circular burner base fixedly attached on said raisedinterior surface portion, fuel feed means projecting through said raisedinterior surface portion of said drum and through said burner base, aburner head located immediately above said burner base and being ofsolid center construction and being provided with radiating vanes incontact with said downwardly extending portion of said intake duct, saidvanes extending beyond the burner head, whereby a combustion Zone isformed adjacent the closed end of said drum, a burner base ofcylindrical construction having an upper cavity of inverted frustumconfiguration, a burner head of solid center construction with upper andlower integral portions, said upper portion being of conicalconfiguration and said lower portion being of inverted frustumconfiguration, vanes radiating from said solid center construction ofsaid burner head and extending from the apex of said upper conicalportion to the lower base plane of said upper conical portion, aplurality of elongate V- shaped grooves located in the surface of saidlower portion of said burner head and being situated in vertical planepassing through the center line of said burner head at acute angles withthe said center line, whereby fuel may be drawn from the fuel meansthrough the said elongated V-shaped grooves to the combustion area.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS990,150 Liddell Apr. 18, 1911 1,585,221 Wine May 18, 1926 1,594,520Hiett Aug. 3, 1926 1,905,360 Noles Apr. 25, 1933 2,224,089 Scott Dec. 3,1940 2,444,814 Dowless July 6, 1948 2,742,894 Love et al. Apr. 24, 1956

